For nearly 90 years, commuters from San Diego to Orange County have had to pass through the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Clemente Border Station checkpoint on busy I-5, just south of San Clemente.

The station’s original purpose was to curb illegal immigration in one of the country’s most problematic border sectors. It isn’t just a checkpoint anymore; the station is evolving to address newer threats.

The station has been in operation since 1924 when border inspectors – as they were called at the time – set up a small checkpoint on the new highway to provide a more in-depth border security strategy.

Today the station is much larger. With the completion of the new administration building on-site, it’s hard to miss. The station is also a major force behind the nation’s defense strategy, which utilizes inland stations like the San Clemente station to curb narcotic smuggling, human trafficking, illegal immigration and other illicit activities.

PURPOSE

Rodney Scott, the deputy chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Diego sector, said the agency’s primary focus is protecting the nation’s land and sea borders. The inland stations play a major role, he said.

“The threats have evolved over the years and specific to the checkpoints,” Scott said.

“We know that no matter what we do right directly on the border, through tunnels, through covert activities, through ultra-lights (small aircraft) or through boats or whatever, or just sneaking through the ports of entry, we’re gonna lose some people at the border,” he added.

Scott said the station has a threefold mission.

Its primary mission is to protect the border with coordination from federal, state and local agencies.

The secondary mission is to patrol egress routes, or look for anything that might have gotten through a port of entry. The station also assists other agencies and local police.

EVOLUTION

The station maintains a checkpoint and often stops cars on the freeway to check for illegal narcotics, people, weapons or anything illicit in nature. In the last several years, the station has turned away from using the checkpoint too often.

Since the overarching agency – U.S. Customs and Border Protection – was formed in 2003 under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security, the San Diego sector has seen a major dip in illegal immigration, which has allowed agents to concentrate more on illicit trafficking.

“We got significant infrastructure changes at the border,” Scott said, “(and) installed a significant amount of border roads, fencing, lighting in the section of border that used to be the most out of control.”

Now the sector is one of the most secure in the country, he said.

He said they decide how often the checkpoint is open based on risk levels and the effect on the general public.

“We believe that that corridor is so secure now, directly south of that, that the threat we were responding to when that checkpoint was open 24/7-365 has shifted,” Scott said.

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The station also conducts roving patrols in marked or unmarked vehicles near the station, as well as other areas of southern California.

AVOIDING OVERLAP

Agents at the station daily are deployed throughout Southern California from the station to Malibu.

They coordinate their patrols through a Regional Coordinating Mechanism, so resources from agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard, and state and local agencies are deployed in the most effective way – and to avoid overlapping.

While still catching a lot of people trying to smuggle through the land corridors, the sector has seen a spike in maritime smuggling, which agents from the San Clemente station are being used to combat.

The Customs and Border Protection agency also has an Office of Air and Marine, a separate arm of the agency that deploys vessels and aircraft to aid Border Patrol.

MISCONCEPTIONS

The Border Patrol agents at the San Clemente Border Station aren’t the same ones who people encounter when entering the country at a port of entry, like the one in Chula Vista.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has three uniformed branches: Office of Air and Marine; Office of Field Operations; and the U.S. Border Patrol, which staffs the San Clemente Border Station.

People at ports of entry, such as the one in San Ysidro, are from the Office of Field Operations.

Scott said another misconception is that the Border Patrol is out to capture and deport illegal immigrants.

“We don’t drive around communities looking for illegal aliens sitting on street corners. That’s not what we do,” Scott said.

The Border Patrol will only apprehend a suspected illegal immigrant if they have information that could help the Border Patrol thwart illegal activity on the border, he said.

EQUIPPED FOR JOB

The station has two structures: the operations center and an administration building.

The operations building is used for dispatch, processing, temporary detention space and office space for specialized units. There also is an attached garage for vehicle repairs, supplies, vehicle searches and office space for mechanics.

The administration building is used for receptions and deliveries. It has 24 offices, locker rooms, a gym, conference rooms, a computer lab, pre-shift musters and storage. The new 14,000-square-foot, $6.3 million administration building, completed in February 2011, can accommodate up to 250 agents.

The checkpoint is covered, and agents use temporary stop signs to activate a checkpoint.

Agents at the San Clemente Border Patrol Station utilize marked and unmarked patrol vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, bicycles, horses, and scope vehicles with various detection mechanisms.

There is a similar station in Murrieta. The other six stations in the San Diego sector are situated along the border.